Sep 23 2009
Siemens is set to substantially extend its share in the PV (photovoltaics) inverter market. A current IMS Research study has shown that the PV plant market is expected to grow by at least 30 per cent annually until 2013, with the expectation that the growth rate will be disproportionately high in the commercial and power plant segment.
Solar Power Plants" />
"To address this growth market we are extending our product portfolio to include the new powerful Sinvert PVM PV inverter range for medium-sized commercial plants", Karlheinz Kaul, CEO of Siemens Systems Engineering Business Unit, stated at a Siemens trade press conference held on the occasion of the EU PVSEC fair in Hamburg. The new Siemens offering is aimed at both PV plant engineers and PV end users operating in the commercial segment. This user group typically requires inverters for rooftop systems installed on barns, schools or industrial buildings or simply on open spaces.
The Sinvert PVM inverters will initially be available in the 10, 13, and 17 kilowatt versions. A 20 kW addition is in the pipeline. The inverter family boasts a peak efficiency of 98.0 per cent which is achieved over a wide power range. "European efficiency" is around 97.5 per cent. This high efficiency provides the user with optimum system yields over a wide output range. The Siemens products deliver their full power output at a maximum ambient temperature of 50 degrees Celsius. The design of the new inverter is both robust and durable. With a small footprint and a low weight of only 40 kilograms, Sinvert PVM inverters require no external ventilator, and their IP65 protection makes them suitable both for indoor and outdoor use. In Germany, Siemens offers a five-year warranty as standard. Since the units come in an assorted range of different output levels they can be combined to form any size of system. They can be used in all isolated PV fields fitted with either crystalline or thin-film solar modules. Sinvert PVM will be available from November 2009 in the following countries: Belgium, Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Spain and the Czech Republic.
The new inverter family has been fully integrated into the Sinvert tool environment. The Sinvert web monitor tool is used globally to retrieve and analyze inverter and system data. It comes with an integrated automatic email alert option in the event of a fault. Sinvert Select enables optimal configuration of the PV system across the entire Sinvert inverter portfolio output spectrum.
"With our PV inverters we now cover the entire professional plant range - from the ten kilowatt level up to the megawatt league. Our high-performance Sinvert inverters reach peak efficiency levels in both our existing Sinvert offering and the new Sinvert PVM family. This high efficiency ensures optimum system yields for our customers", Karlheinz Kaul continued.
Wherever PV systems are planned and built, explains Kaul, Siemens is on hand as a partner providing comprehensive customer care and services, logistics, additional tools and add-on components. Until now these services have applied mainly to the large power plant segment, in other words higher-performance plants. In this segment with its total global PV inverter output of 2.3 gigawatts in 2008, Siemens holds a market share of 13 per cent, making it one of the top players. With the new Sinvert PVM photovoltaic inverter family, Siemens now provides a complete portfolio for medium and large-scale commercial photovoltaic plants.
The new Sinvert PVM inverters are part and parcel of the Siemens environmental portfolio which generated sales of almost 19 billion EUR in 2008. This corresponds to around one quarter of the entire group revenue and makes Siemens the world's biggest supplier of environmentally friendly technology.